I recently had 3 blood tests within a couple of weeks. The first 2 were fine -- no problem. The 3rd however caused bruising on my arm, especially around my elbow. It is now 2 weeks and it's going down slowly. Since then I had one in the left arm no problem, no bruising. Should I be worried about the bruising in the arm or could this be something to do with HIV?

Response from Dr. Henry

You don't mention whether you are HIV + (this forum if for HIV+ persons or their doc). Some people seem to bruise easily and have more bleeding after a blood draw whether or not they are HIV+. It may be a good idea just to double check your platelet count and coagulation parameters if that hasn't been done already. You might want to have more pressure applied for a longer time period after your next blood draws to see if that helps any.
Keith Henry, M.D.

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